Paul Lynch

You may well have skipped straight past some of the centrefolds in the Chron over the past month or so.

And you wouldn’t be alone, surveys suggest.

Said centrefolds have concentrated on the Northamptonshire County Council elections, which unless you have been on another planet for the past fortnight, have been somewhat superseded by the announcement of a snap General Election 30-odd days later.

Even without Theresa May’s shock announcement, a double-page spread on potholes, care homes or unitary authorities has long been a challenge for the parochial journalist.

Coupled with that, a YouGov survey from 2011 found 79 per cent of people in the East Midlands could not even name a single councillor on their local authority.

And yet the stuff that really makes a difference to day-to-day life here in Northamptonshire is dictated by the county council.

Annoyed at the street light out on your road? That’s the county council.

Annoyed at the children’s centre closing, the library opening hours, parking fines, the huge bypass being built by your back garden, bus services, dementia cafes? The county council.

People often say to me - and regularly take to our Facebook page to say - “what does it matter? The politicians won’t listen anyway”.

Well today they have your attention.

Today, May 4, you can vote in the county council elections.

If you care about the place you live in, if you care about the people that live in it, don’t squander it.